


Lost and Sound

by Spinofflady



Series: Race to the Edge [4]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Race To The Edge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-19 05:57:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8192809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spinofflady/pseuds/Spinofflady
Summary: When Stoick comes to rescue his son and Astrid, he deeply offends Tove; causing her to reveal a secret about herself that no one could have guessed. She takes Astrid hostage, demanding a high price for her safe return.





	1. Chapter 1

Two more weeks passed on Tove’s lonely island. Hiccup was almost completely recovered from the Scourge of Odin, and the arrow wound in his shoulder was healing nicely. Once Astrid managed to stop pulling out the stitches in her knee, it too began to heal. Tove still refused to let Dagur do anything strenuous, as he had suffered from rather serious burns.

But try as she might, Tove could not keep the three from exploring the tiny island they lived on, or from flying short distances on Stormfly and Deathcrasher. She did, however, insist that they stay with her until they were completely well, as all three were accident prone.

She didn’t have to worry have to worry about Hiccup going anywhere, though. As long as Astrid stayed put, he wouldn’t leave her for a second. He subtly (or else not so subtly) made sure that he was with her for every possible moment he could.

He tagged along wherever she went, and Tove quickly noticed that Astrid did not mind Hiccup’s company. They called each other “best friends,” but Tove didn’t need to hear in order to understand it was much deeper than that, whether they would admit to it or not. She was honestly surprised that there was not an obvious romantic level in their relationship, well, more than the ridiculous amounts of flirting that occurred.

It dawned on her that the two of them were probably out there alone (except for the Deadly Nadder who always went with them), and she wondered if they acted any differently when they were alone. There were plenty of caves to hide in on this island…who knew what they were up to! Tove giggled to herself.

Little did she know, they were messing around in a cave, but not how Tove envisioned. Astrid was showing the strange stone to Hiccup, and attempting to convince him of its legitimacy.  
“I’m telling you, we heard it!” Astrid repeated stubbornly.

“Come on, Astrid. There’s no such thing as ghosts-”

“You don’t know that.”

“Have you ever seen one?”

“Well, no…”

“Exactly. Whatever you heard must be the wind moving through the rocks or something.” Hiccup was proud of his answer. There was no way she could give a better answer.

“Hiccup, I heard what I heard. You can ask Dagur. We heard moaning, and then something that sounded just like me.”

“No way! You heard an echo in a cave?” Hiccup taunted, slightly enjoying how frustrated it made her.

“Stop it, Hiccup! It wasn’t an echo. It was original.” Astrid crossed her arms and scowled at him, and the whininess in her voice made her sound like an eight year old.

“Yeah, originally from you.” That was too much, and Astrid swiftly punched his shoulder. It hurt, but he laughed anyway. His laughing stopped short as a long, low moan echoed through the cave.

He stared at her, his eyes wide. She shrugged smugly, and muttered: “Told ya.”

Stormfly sniffed the air anxiously and squawked a warning. The three left the cave, and only Astrid remained calm, as she knew from experience that whatever it was wouldn’t make an appearance.

Hiccup finally calmed down enough to admit that she was right, and they sat down to rest. The two sat talking while Stormfly preened herself nearby. They suddenly noticed Honeysuckle foraging around in the woods a good distance away. Astrid called to her, but she never responded to her name.

Sticking her fingers in her mouth, Astrid whistled for her, and Stormfly responded by spiking the closest tree with a couple of spines. She had never forgotten that trick. Honeysuckle, however, came bounding over to them, her stubby tail wagging and her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

They both gave the dragon some affection, scratching her lumpy skin. She felt strangely soft for a Gronkle, and the bumps on her skin were oddly squishy. Neither gave it much thought, as Fishlegs was the Boulder Class enthusiast.

“I hate that Tove won’t give her any attention,” Astrid said suddenly.

Hiccup glanced over at her, scratching behind the dragon’s ears. “Pardon?”

“Tove,” Astrid repeated. “Honeysuckle loves her, but Tove just wants to get rid of her. I hate that.”

“Maybe Tove just doesn’t like dragons much. For all we know, they might scare her. Not everyone loves dragons the way we do.”

Astrid sighed, picking at the bark on the fallen tree she leaned against. “I know. It just seems like she particularly dislikes Honeysuckle. She puts up with Deathcrasher and Stormfly just fine, but whenever Honeysuckle shows up, Tove immediately tries to get rid of her. Especially when we’re around.”

“It seems like she does a lot of things differently when we’re around.” Hiccup muttered softly, adjusting the sling that cradled his left arm.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. She just…she does a lot of things that don’t make any sense. I mean, you said she told you that she shipwrecked here six months ago. I find it hard to believe that she built that hut all by herself in six months. And where did she get all those books? And food? Have you ever wondered how she has a fully grown garden in six months? It just doesn’t add up.”

“Hiccup, stop worrying. We can trust her.”

“It’s not a matter of trust. It’s a matter of whether she’s hiding something.” Hiccup looked at her, the seriousness of what he was saying showing in his eyes.

“Hiccup, I think it’s time you stop worrying about her inner motives and start thinking about the fact that she saved our lives.” Astrid was just as serious. “We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her. I would have died on the beach, you would have died in the mud, and no one would ever know what happened to us. Even if her back-story is a little shady or she doesn’t like dragons, we owe her our lives, and we need to remember that.”

Hiccup nodded, smiling as Honeysuckle wriggled into his lap. “Okay, big girl!” he chuckled, “I’ll pet you some more!” The dragon made a somewhat purring noise as he stroked her. “It’s amazing how trusting she is of humans, you know?”

Astrid nodded, swatting a fly in front of her face. “She was that was when I first trained her. Exceptionally trusting and friendly. She almost didn’t even need to be trained.”

“You’re a big sweat-heart, aren’t you?” Hiccup crooned scratching under her chin.

Honeysuckle whistled in agreement. She actually whistled, just the way Astrid had done so minutes before.

“No way,” Astrid murmured under her breath. “You heard that right?”  
Hiccup nodded, confusion written plainly on his face. He gave a few quick short whistles, and Honeysuckle cocked her head, sitting up, watching him intently. Hiccup repeated himself, and the dragon imitated him exactly.

“That isn’t you, right?” he asked Astrid, in denial of the fact that the Gronkle sounded just like him.

“Nope.” Astrid tried her own whistling pattern, and Honeysuckle repeated perfectly, as if she thought it were some kind of game.

They went back and forth for some time, attempting to come up with a series of whistles that would stump the dragon, but every time she delivered an exact replica of the sound.

“I never would have believed it,” Hiccup chuckled in amazement. “A Gronkle that can whistle. Fishlegs would love to see this.”

“Ow.”

Astrid’s eyes bugged out as far as they could go and she clapped a hand over her mouth. Hiccup glanced at her, surprised, as he had been told the “Ow” story plenty of times.

Honeysuckle proceeded to imitate Stormfly, the creaking of a door, thunder, birds chirping, and a crackling fire, the two Dragon Riders watching in utter amazement. The dragon started to sniff the air, her eyes suddenly narrowing and she took off.

Hiccup and Astrid were two dumbfounded to think twice about the abrupt exit, and hurriedly tried to find Dagur. They jogged, as best they could, to the hut near the beach, but the sight that greeted them was far from finding Dagur. In fact, they had not found anyone.

Someone had found them.

Just barely visible in the distance was a pack of dragon, flying steadily toward them, a Rumblehorn in the lead. Both stared, watching the approaching pack with great concentration. They could make out a two-headed Zippleback, a Monstrous Nightmare, two Gronkles, and…and a Razorwhip! It was them!It had to be them!

The two started shouting and waving with delight, trying to get the attention of their friends. It didn’t take much, as Skullcrusher had picked up a trail and they were already expecting to find Hiccup.

But when Heather realized that it was Astrid who was next to him, she and Windshear raced ahead landing on the beach.

“Astrid!” Heather squealed, running to her friend. “You’re alive!”

Astrid limped a few running steps and met Heather with a hug. “Of course I am! I can’t let you have all the fun!”

The reunion was a happy one, and by the time the others’ landed, Astrid was already bragging about her newest scar.Everyone excitedly greeted Astrid and Hiccup, except for Stoick, that is.  
He too was happy to see Astrid alive and well, but the stern glance he gave Hiccup showed a lecture was on its way. He approached the young man, his eyes flashing.

“Good to see you, son,” he boomed, an agitation in his voice, but he remained calm.

“Hey, dad.” Hiccup fidgeted uncomfortably. He wondered how his dad would go about killing him.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!!!?” Stoick shouted, having lost all patience.

Hiccup winced. His dad was never reasonable when he was upset. “Well, I got a message from someone who I thought was Astrid, so I went to find her. It ended up a trap and I got an arrow in the shoulder, hence the sling, and Tove found me and brought me here. So…yeah.”

“And who might this ‘Tove’ be?” Stoick’s eyes narrowed.

“A friend,” Astrid put in firmly. “Sir, Hiccup and I would both be dead if it weren’t for her.”

“I appreciate your opinion, Astrid.” Stoick’s commanding tone warned her not to jump in again. “But I asked Hiccup.”

“Why don’t you asked her yourself,” Hiccup replied, gesturing to the girl, who had been down out of the hut at the edge of the beach.

“Well I might just,” Stoick grumbled.

Astrid waved for Tove to come down to them, and she nervously did so. She clearly didn’t like the look of so many people on the island.

“Exactly why did you keep my son on this island for so long?” Stoick asked her.

Tove didn’t respond. She glanced between him and Astrid, asking for a translation.

“Answer me!”

“She can’t hear, dad,” Hiccup put in, noticing how intimidated Tove seemed. She clearly understood he was angry, but couldn’t understand why. “She can read lips though.”

“Would’ve been nice of you to mention that,” Stoick growled as Astrid translated for Tove. “And if she can read lips, why are we wasting time with this translating?”

“She can’t see your lips,” Hiccup replied smartly.

“Tove says she kept him here because he wasn’t well enough to travel,” Astrid jumped in, attempting to stop the fighting. “It was for his own good. She needs to go take care of her cooking…oh.” Astrid paused her translation, smiling a little. Tove walked back up the beach. “Her food was going to burn.”

“Well, let’s go. Saddle up.” Stoick walked back to Skullcrusher.

“What?”

“We’re leaving,” he turned to his son. “Now.”

“Dad, what are you so upset about? It’s not like I tried to get into this mess.”

“I am not upset about the mess, Hiccup. I am upset about the fact that you have been missing for an entire month! I am upset that you didn’t tell anyone where you were going! I am upset that you spent that month being held captive on an island by some little-” Stoick stopped short, glancing behind him to make sure Tove was safely gone. He finished his sentence with a rather vulgar spiel of words, making it obvious where Hiccup got his occasional foul language from.

A sudden battle cry spilt the calm sea air, and everyone turned just in time to see Tove, of all people, knock Stoick to the ground. She slammed her knife against his throat, keeping a foot on his chest, and through gritted teeth snarled, “If you EVER call me that again, I swear I will cut you into so many pieces not the even the _gods_ will be able to put you back together!”

No one moved. Not even Stoick. No one could have ever expected, sweet, innocent Tove to turn into this…person. Not to mention the fact that Tove was supposed to be deaf! This whole time she had been lying to them! She had heard every word they had spoken and pretended not to understand.

Tove stood back, her eyes flashing with anger. “The first person to move, dies.” Her accent was strange and foreign, she was obviously not of Viking decent, but she spoke the language well. “You had to bring people here!” She shouted at Hiccup and Astrid, her voice growing tight and shrill. “How could you repay me like this?!”

Both were speechless. Literally speechless. Even if they knew how to answer her question, their complete and utter shock would never have allowed the words to leave their mouths.

“Now you decide to keep quiet,” Tove growled. “Fine. We can play this way.” With that she grabbed Astrid and jammed the edge of the knife blade into her throat. Astrid’s eyes were wide with fear, but what truly caused her distress was the realization that Tove was not who she thought.

Hiccup didn’t dare move. Tove was serious. Even his father remained on the ground, watching Tove with a vicious glare. Hiccup knew that if he did anything sudden, all Tove had to do was slide her dagger a little to the left, and Astrid would drop dead at her feet.

“Tove, listen, we don’t want to hurt you,” Hiccup began tactfully.

Tove pushed the blade further into Astrid’s neck, causing her to suck in a quick breath. “Say what you must, but if I don’t like what you have to say, I will kill her.”

“What are you doing this for?” Astrid almost whimpered. “You saved our lives!”

Tove’s stone expression grew darker, her eyes flaming in furious anger. “My first mistake.”

Little did anyone know, but Dagur had been watching the entire ordeal, safely hidden in the woods. He had been hoping to catch a glimpse of his sister, but didn’t want to cause any trouble, so he stayed out of sight. But when he realized Tove was threatening one of his friends, he decided whatever trouble Heather would give him was worth it.

He jumped out of his hiding spot and sprinted toward them. “Let her go, Tove!” he shouted, preparing himself for whatever fight she would give him. Several gasps sounded from the onlookers, they must have thought he was dead.

Tove glared at him but said nothing. Instead she whistled, a faint smile tugging at her lips. Honeysuckle came barreling out of the woods and cut Dagur off, snarling like a wild Gronkle. Shocked at the affectionate dragon’s behavior, Dagur stayed put.

“Honeysuckle is your dragon?!” Hiccup nearly shouted, shocked, but not surprised. It made sense now, why Honeysuckle had been so sweet. She _was_ trained.

“Of course she’s my dragon! And her name is Shifty, if you don’t mind.”

Stoick had managed to get up amidst all the commotion, and finally asked the obvious. “What do you want, exactly?”

At this, Tove did smile. It was a cold, heartless one, but all the same a smile. Her piercing gaze settled on Hiccup. “I want the Night Fury.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Hiccup swallowed. He never thought his talking about how he missed his dragon would lead to this. He had not trusted Tove completely, but it had never crossed his mind that she could hear what they were saying, that she would use it against them.

Yet here she was, holding a knife to Astrid’s throat, keeping Dagur contained by way of her dragon, and demanding that Hiccup give her Toothless. This was nothing like the girl who had rescued them and nursed them back to health. This didn’t seem like Tove. Tove was sweet and kind, genuinely compassionate and loving. She wasn’t violent or threatening. This couldn’t possibly be Tove, could it?

Could that caring persona have just been an act? Had she tricked them into believing that she wanted to help them just to get his dragon? What gave her the reason to turn on them like this?

Tove’s eyes narrowed as her malicious smile faded, and she slowly moved the knife side to side on Astrid’s neck. “You will bring the Night Fury tomorrow morning without weapons.” She spoke directly to him. “And you will bring him alone. If I see anyone besides you, I will kill her. If you send someone in your place, I will kill her. If you bring a weapon, I will kill her with it. And if you fail to come, I will come to you…so that you can watch her die.”

Tove had him figured out. Every possible plan to get out of this mess had been covered in her little speech, and the consequence was one he would never pay. She knew he would never leave Astrid to fend for herself. She knew how he would bend the rules just enough to get away. She was smart—crafty, even.

“Now get off my island!” Tove suddenly shouted, startling all of them. No one moved, but Stoick motioned for them to obey. He seemed to understand that it was best to let Tove make her threats.

“This isn’t finished, Tove,” Hiccup called to her as he mounted behind his father. “You can’t win.”

Tove shoved Astrid to the ground and placed a foot on top of her chest, keeping her down. She met Hiccup’s determined gaze, which softened at the mistreatment of his friend. Her next words, though few, struck him hard. “Watch me.”

Fishlegs rescued Dagur from Tove’s dragon, and the five disappeared, leaving Astrid alone. Tove pulled her up and marched her up the beach. They traveled through the woods for several minutes.

Astrid was still trying to process the rapid events that had taken place. She was Tove’s prisoner. The girl she had seen as a friend was marching her through the woods at knifepoint, using her as leverage against Hiccup. As much as she hated it, that hurt. Tove had betrayed her, betrayed all of them, and it hurt.

She knew she should fight back. Stormfly was around here somewhere, and they could escape together. But the constant pang in her knee reminded her that she could do nothing of the sort, especially when Tove have a weapon. Every odd there could be was against her.

Tove halted her and opened a small door in the ground, gesturing for her to go through it. Astrid stepped into the dark hole, finding a wooden stair waiting to meet her foot. Tove pulled a torch out of the tall grasses nearby, and Shifty lit it for her.

The girl pushed Astrid down the staircase roughly. They entered an underground room, the floor, walls, and ceiling made of dirt. In the corner was a large iron ball, with four cuffs chained to it. Tove led her over to it and sat her down, starting to chain her to the ball.

“Why are you doing this?” Astrid asked her softly, watching as she clipped the metal on her ankles.

“Because you have something I want,” she replied simply.

“You sound like Viggo.” Astrid said it mostly to herself, not knowing if Tove knew who Viggo even was.

“Viggo? Viggo Grimborn takes because he is selfish. He takes so that he can become great. He takes out of greed. I take because that is what is fair. You took from me, so I take from you.” She fastened a iron cuff to Astrid’s wrist.

“Took from you? What could we have possibly taken from you?”

“You took everything I have. You took my freedom. You took my dragon. You may have even taken my life.”

“What? How?”

Tove snapped the last cuff into place. “You brought people here. They will bring other people here. They will bring others. They will bring Viggo. And Viggo will take everything.”

She turned to leave, taking the torch with her. Astrid wasn’t finished. She still had questions, quite a few actually. “Tove!” she called after her, but the girl didn’t respond. “Tove!”

She finally turned, the fire and spunk once flashing in her eyes long gone. Now she seemed…sad. Astrid knew she had failed to respond to the name, not the sound. “Your name isn’t Tove, is it?” She asked, realizing practically everything about this girl was fake.

“No.”

“What is it then?”

“I have no reason to tell you.” She turned to leave again.

“Well, I can tell you now that Hiccup will do something to upset you tomorrow, so you will end up killing me. I’d like to at least know who did the honors.”

Tove ignored her and continued up the stars, but stopped halfway. She slowly turned around, her eyes more sad than ever. “Catia,” she whispered, as the word were foreign to her. “Catia Anastos.”

. . .

Hiccup paced back and forth in the clubhouse, his peg-leg squeaking with every step. How could he have gotten Astrid into so much trouble? What in the world possessed to Tove to act in such a way?

“We could stay above the clouds and wait until Hiccup swaps Toothless for Astrid,” Fishlegs offered. “Once she’s safe,we get Toothless back.”

“No good,” Stoick muttered. “All she has to do is threaten to kill the dragon.”

“We could just fly in and blast the island into oblivion,” Tuffnut suggested…again.

“Enough with the blasting!” Snotlout retorted. “We already marked that off the list!”

“I think my plan is the best so far,” Ruffnut put in confidently. “It’s so simple. We beat Snotlout up, drop him off on the beach of her island, and she takes care of him. He befriends her and keeps her distracted while we free Astrid.”

“Do you propose we do that in one night?” Stoick asked, clearly not impressed.

“How long could it take?”

“Longer than we can afford,” Hiccup said finally. “Listen. We have until tomorrow morning to put a plan into action. Unless we get some Thor-inspired idea, we got nothing. I have to be there tomorrow, plan or not.”

“Thor-inspired, huh?” Tuffnut repeated, stroking his chin. “I’ve got it! I will dress up as Thor, and go tell Tove that unless she lets Astrid go, I will use my lightning bolts to blast her into oblivion!”

“TUFFNUT!” Stoick bellowed. “THERE WILL BE NO BLASTING ANYONE INTO OBLIVION!!!”

More ideas were pitched, but Heather and Dagur merely sat off by themselves, occasionally eyeing the other. It was clear that neither was ready to say anything to the other, or at least not in front of everyone else. Besides, the others were making plenty of noise by themselves.

“-and then the fish will be full of toxic fumes that will kill them-”

“Stupid!” Ruffnut interrupted her brother. “We’re trying to save Astrid, not kill her!”

“That’s enough, guys,” Hiccup jumped in. “I already have a plan.”

“Well, then,” Stoick sat back in his chair. “Let’s hear it, son.”

“I’m going to do exactly what Tove told me to. I’m going to go to her island tomorrow morning, alone, and trade Toothless for Astrid. No tricks, no twists. I’m going to play by her rules.”

“BO-ring,” Snotlout drawled. “That’s it? That’s not a plan! That’s…that’s just plain boring!”

“Well, it’s a good thing you aren’t involved in it,” Hiccup replied shortly, silencing Snotlout for good.

“But…what about Toothless?” Fishlegs spoke up. “You aren’t going to leave him there are you?”

“No, of course not. I’m not even going to leave. Tove never said I had to leave. I’m going to let her think I left Toothless, and get her to lower her guard. Then I’ll just grab him on our way out.”

Everyone agreed that it was the best plan they had yet, and the clubhouse slowly cleared out, leaving Dagur and Heather alone. Both sat in silence, neither wanting to say the first word.

Dagur knew that his sister was probably trying to figure out the slowest, most torturous death she could possibly inflict upon him, but at least she hadn’t given him any murderous glares. The silence continued, and Heather only stared at the floor, avoiding any form of eye contact. He had to say something. She would never learn to trust him if they never spoke.

“So…long time no see, huh?” It was a pitiful ice breaker, but at least it did the job.

“Yeah,” Heather agreed quietly, refusing to look up.

“Did you get my note?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you read it?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you always this talkative?”

“What else do you want me to say?” Heather finally gave him an answer longer than one word, but stared glumly at the floor.

What _did_ he want her to say? That she would forgive him for every horrible, violent, cruel thing he had done to her and her friends? That she would forget all that and consider him her brother? No, that wasn’t what he was seeking. He wanted to just talk with her, get to know her, he wanted her to be open.

Heather had always been this way. Even when she was young, she was never very talkative. As opposed to him, who could never say everything he wanted to. There just wasn’tenough hours in the day.

He could remember telling her stories, exaggerating every detail he possibly could to make the story as gruesome and scary as it could be. His attempts to frighten her never worked, or at least not right away. She would simply sit quietly and pretend it didn’t bother her, never giving him the satisfaction of scaring her.

That was Heather, the quiet, smart one. She took so much after their father. She only used as many words as she had to, and thought before she said them. She was a woman of action and few words.

Dagur wondered what she was like now. When she had pretended to work for Ryker, she had been tough and commanding. Was that really her? Could she really have become so…edgy? While she was once a forgiving person, she was now completely untrusting. Could that be his fault? Oh, how he wanted her to talk with him! Was one conversation too much to ask?

“So, what have you been up to lately?” Heather asked suddenly, her voice soft and almost slightly sad. It caught him by surprise.

“Not much,” he replied, choosing his words carefully. “I was sick for a really long time. Those dragon root arrows aren’t good for humans, either.”

“You got hit?” She sounded concerned…maybe.

“Four times. That trap was meant to kill you guys.”

“How did you end up with Tove?” It was slowly becoming clear to him that she was willing to talk, just not about herself. He would take that over no talking any day.

“I’m not entirely sure. I was out of it for a few days at least. And even when I did come to, I was too weak to do anything for myself. I realized pretty quickly that she couldn’t hear, or at least that’s what I thought, so I started to learn her hand language. I was bedridden for several weeks, since one of the arrows had pricked my lung. I still can’t do anything strenuous.”

“Was the hand language hard to learn?” Dagur had never realized how many questions Heather was capable of asking.

“At first, yes. I mixed some stuff up pretty bad. Like this one time I tried to tell her that our island breeds very nice horses, and instead I told her we breed devils! There was another time I tried say she was funny, but accidentally called her a rodent!”

Heather laughed. “A rodent?”

“Yeah. She got pretty mad.”

“I can imagine. Do you know what happened to Shattermaster?”

Dagur sighed. “No. I can only guess he was killed or captured.” He had often thought about his dragon, that sweet, lovable Gronkle. He missed his friend daily.

Heather smiled slightly and stood up opening the clubhouse door. She whistled, and Windshear stepped in, followed by an excited, green, slobbery Gronkle.

“Shattermaster!” Dagur shouted, running forward. The dragon met him in a hug, licking him all over. The two rolled around on the floor, playfully tackling each other. When Dagur finally sat up, his sister was gone.

He ran out of the clubhouse, finding her walking back to her hut. “Heather!” he called after her, running to catch up. She slowed, as if deciding whether she should wait for him. He finally reached her, a stitch in his side and out of breath.

“Thank you,” he said genuinely. “Thank you so much, Heather. I didn’t deserve for you to do that. I’ve been the worst brother possible, and I know you don’t believe me, but I really am sorry. I hope you’ll try to forgive me.”

“Maybe,” Heather answered skeptically. She turned and started walking away, but halted abruptly and turned back. She stood there for a few seconds, but suddenly ran back to her brother and threw her arms around him, whispering: “I missed you, Dagur.”

Dagur was so shocked that for once, he didn’t have anything to say. There wasn’t a single word his brain could come up with as a response. The moment ended before he could even hug her back.

“I still hate you,” she shouted, running to her hut for the night, but there was a smile in her voice. Maybe she would forgive him after all.  



	3. Chapter 3

Astrid woke with a start, the sudden clattering shocking her awake. Catia appeared at the top of the staircase, a torch in one hand and a rope in the other. Astrid could only wonder what she planned to do with the rope. Maybe Hiccup had already come and upset Catia, and she planned on hanging her. But no need to think negatively, well, more negatively.

Catia’s appearance was much fiercer today. Her simple gray sleeveless dress had covered replaced by a leather, metal plated skirt and a leather cuirass. Several leather straps held two curved blades on her back, though what weapon it actually was, Astrid didn’t know. Her hair was pulled into a French braid, her overgrown bangs piling up at the top of her head. A thin, short cluster of hair fell just in front of each ear. Her dark lashes delivered an almost cat like look.  
Her bare feet we now clad by a thin animal hide shoe that laced all the way up to her knee. A thick shoulder guard rested on her left shoulder, a smaller one covering her right. She reminded Astrid a good deal of Heather; quiet, fierce, and bold.

“Get up,” Catia commanded, taking the metal cuffs off Astrid’s wrists. A bruise remained in place of the heavy iron. She obeyed Catia, wanting nothing more that to go home.

Catia tied her hands behind her back, so tightly it hurt the bruised area. She removed the chains around Astrid’s ankles, and wordlessly led her out of the dirt room. Astrid’s knee began to ache as the two marched back to the beach.

Hiccup and Toothless were waiting for them. Both seemed to share the same unreadable expression, they simply watched as Catia walked out onto the sand. Hiccup’s face never changed when he caught sight of his friend, but his eyes visibly softened. “Send her over,” he demanded firmly.

Catia eyed him, he look showing loud and clear that he needed to stay in his place. “If we are going to do this,” she replied just as firmly, “we do it my way. Send the dragon first.”

“How can I be sure you won’t keep both of them?”

“You can’t.” She pulled out her knife and held it lightly to Astrid’s neck. “But you can be sure of one thing. Unless you do as I say, I will kill her.”

Hiccup swallowed to maintain his composure. He motioned to Toothless to go to Astrid, and the dragon reluctantly obeyed. Catia looked the dragon over briefly, deciding whether or not he was acceptable.

Apparently he was, and Catia roughly pushed Astrid toward Hiccup so that she could grab the dragon. Toothless flinched, but went with her when Hiccup reassured him of what to do.   
Catia whistled and turned to leave, but paused to give a whistle. Shifty came running, as did Stormfly.

“Take the Nadder and go,” Catia told them, “and I don’t ever want to see you again.”

Hiccup nodded, and drawing his knife, he cut Astrid loose. “Is your knee well enough to fly?” he asked shortly motioning for Stormfly to squat down so they could mount.

“I think so,” she replied quietly. “What about you? Is your arm okay?”

“It’s fine,” he told her, though he grunted in pain as he pulled himself up on the dragon. He had taken the sling off, but it seemed as though his shoulder wasn’t healed well enough yet. He offered her a hand, and pulled her up onto Stormfly’s back. He gave her a swift kick to get her moving. The dragon squawked in surprise, as Astrid never used anything more than a nudge to tell her to go.

“Hiccup, that was a little rough,” Astrid said protectively, wondering why he would treat her dragon in such a way.

“What was?” The unfamiliar gruffness in his voice startled her a little.

“You kicked Stormfly, and you only needed to nudge her at most.”

“She’ll get over it.”

Astrid’s jaw dropped. “What has gotten into you?!” she demanded angrily.

“Nothing,” he mumbled, steering Stormfly toward a large sea stack, and landed in the center of it. He slid off the dragon’s back and helped Astrid down.

“Something has gotten into you,” Astrid persisted. “What’s going on?”

Hiccup ignored her and fished a jar of water out of his bag. He passed it to her wordlessly. “Let me see your knee,” he said finally, dumping out some medical supplies.

“My knee is fine,” she answered defiantly, “but clearly you aren’t.”

“Astrid, I need to make sure you’re knee is okay. Tov- Catia removed a piece of the bone. Just let me check on it.” Astrid did not like his tone one bit.

“No! I want to know why you’re being so grumpy!”

“Good Thor, you are so stubborn sometimes! Just let me see your knee!” His voice was even more frustrated.

“No! Not until you tell me what is going on!”

“Will you knock it off?! I’m trying to help you!”

“Stop yelling at me and tell me what you’re so upset!”

“Just shut up, Astrid!!” His anger was getting out of control, but Astrid no longer cared about his attitude.

“Don’t you DARE ever tell me to ‘shut up’ again!! I am trying to help you!”

“FOR THE LOVE OF VALHALLA, SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!” Hiccup roared, his words growing steadily more hurtful.

“NO!”

Hiccup’s hand flew up, ready to slap her in furious rage. She shrunk back, her eyes wide.  
The look of terror and betrayal that passed across her face as he stepped toward her woke him out of his angry state. The horror of what he’d been about to do spread down to his stomach, the guilty anguish making him physically sick. His hand dropped limply and he glanced up at Astrid, her eyes brimming with tears and her lower lip quivering.

Oh, gods above…he had been about _slap_ Astrid.

The realization in itself almost made him vomit. He had almost _slapped_ her. “Astrid, I-… I’m sorry.” He couldn’t say anything more, the look in her eyes was too much. Astrid quietly turned away from him and walked to her dragon plopping down on the edge of the sea stack. Stormfly curled around her, eyeing him warily.

Hiccup’s head spun, dizziness, guilt gnawing at his stomach. What if he hadn’t stopped? What if he had actually hit her? He knew he occasionally lost his temper, but that was with the twins and Snotlout! He had never been this angry with Astrid before. What was wrong with him?! For the love of Thor he had threatened to _slap_ her! Stormfly felt it necessary to protect her from him!

He sat down on the opposite cliff, breathing heavily. Guilt tore at him from every angle, and he couldn’t stop reliving the terror in Astrid’s eyes. She used to look at him with such trust, and that fear broke his heart. He sat there for what felt like hours, tearing himself apart with quilt and self accusations.

He suddenly heard footsteps behind him, and he tried not to look up as Astrid sat down beside him. she sat for a minute, as if waiting for him to speak. When he didn’t she said quietly, “I think it’s about time for you to admit how right I was.”

Hiccup finally looked up. “What?”

“There was definitely something wrong with you.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, utterly floored that she was even speaking to him.

“Mind sharing what that might be?”

“I wish I knew.”

“I think I have an idea.”

“Enlighten me, then.”

Astrid sighed and scooted a little closer, leaning forward so he could see her. “You’re stressed. Simple as that.”

“Astrid, that’s no excuse for…for what I just did. You don’t deserve that.”

“You’re right, I don’t. But you don’t deserve to have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“Why are you excusing what I did?!”

Astrid gripped his shoulder, turning him to face her. She met his gaze, her eyes more beautiful than ever. “No,” she replied, glancing down. “Not excusing in the slightest. But I realize why you reacted the way you did. Hiccup, you’re killing yourself with all this work. You’re taking all of the problems on yourself, and you don’t need to. You have us for support, but you never take advantage of that. And the results aren’t good ones.”

How did she know these things? He was beginning to wonder if she had some telepathic superpower.

“We’ve all seen how much you’ve changed within the past year, Hiccup. It’s not a good change, either. You smile less and worry more. We all know you stay up all night planning missions. We know you act like it isn’t hurting anything. You’re exhausted. You need to rely more on everyone else. We want to help you.” She smiled, showing her sincerity.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, shaking his head as he glanced away. “I just treated you like garbage.”

“Because that’s what friends do,” she replied simply.

“Some friend I turned out to be.”

“There are way you could make it up.”

“Such as?”

“You could start by showing me how gentle and sweet you can be when you try.”

Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

“I want a hug, stupid.”

Hiccup chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, somewhat surprised that she wanted to be near him. She leaned her head down on his shoulder, obviously just a comfortable as ever. Pride slowly replaced the guilt as he realized how quickly she was willing to forgive him.

“I’m so sorry, Astrid,” he said again. “I never should have treated you like that. I was just worried sick about you. I wanted to make sure you were okay, and the fact that you wouldn’t let me just pushed me over the limit, I guess.”

Astrid squeezed him. “Just promise you won’t do it again.”

“Nothing on this earth can make me do it again. Will you forgive me?”

“On one condition.” He could feel her smiling.

“I want a massage. I slept on the ground last night, and my back hurts like crazy.”

Hiccup agreed without hesitation.

. . .

Night finally came, draping the island in its dark curtains. Hiccup, Astrid, and Stormfly packed up and headed to the mainland, keeping a wary eye out for Catia. They crept slowly into the woods, trying to avoid the thick undergrowth. The island was silent. The only sounds that could be heard were the soft, dull noises of their feet hitting the ground, and their anxious breathing as they frantically searched for Toothless.

There was no sign of him. No tracks, no claw marks, not even a sign from Stormfly that the dragon was around. The moon cast eerie shadows throughout the trees, making it impossible to tell which way they were going. Everything looked different at night.

Both glanced around nervously, waiting for something to jump out and kill them. Neither had a weapon, as Astrid had washed up without an axe and Hiccup had obeyed Catia’s orders to come without a weapon. The only defense they had was Stormfly, and they weren’t sure that she would protect them from someone she completely trusted.

A dreary rain began to fall, splattering on the leaves and chilling the soft breeze to a bitter cold. Thunder rolled overhead, indicating that a storm was approaching. Hiccup sighed at their luck.  
Then the moaning started. Over the past few weeks, they had grown used to the sound, but now they felt as if they were living in a nightmare. The sound seemed to grow closer as they moved on, and other noises were suddenly unfamiliar and frightening.

The a new sound arose from the chaos of noise—crying. Hiccup turned toward it, recognizing the human origin. Both crept through the trees, hardly daring to breathe as they closed in on whoever it was.

Hiccup moved ahead. He could now see a form within a clearing, sitting on a log, crying. He could now see that it was Catia, Shifty at her feet and Toothless beside her. He wanted to go on, but her tears stopped him where he was. He held up a hand to stop Astrid from going any further.

“Oh, Shifty, what have I done?” Catia whimpered, burying her face in her hands. “They trusted me. They were my first chance to get away from here. How could I have been so stupid?”

Hiccup’s curiosity was peeked. What did she mean; her first chance to get away?

“I thought at first they could help us. I thought that I could trust them. Why did they have to bring someone here?”

Why did she care if they brought people?

Catia sniffed and looked at the dragon, attempting to stop her crying. “I must be crazy to think they would help. We have such a big price on our heads they wouldn’t think twice about taking us back.”

Take them back where?

Toothless nudged her, brushing his cheek against hers. He clearly trusted her. Catia smiled a little, scratching under his chin. “I never should have brought people here,” she muttered to no one in particular. “People only want to hurt other people.”

She paused for a minute, as if bringing a thought to mind. She suddenly burst into tears again, babbling incoherently in what seemed like another language.

Hiccup stared at her sobbing form, realizing she wasn’t as cruel as they had thought. For some reason, she refused to trust anyone. He couldn’t reinforce that belief by charging in and stealing his dragon back. He couldn’t break whatever trust she might still have in them. She clearly wasn’t hurting Toothless, and besides, maybe he could help them learn more about her.

With a wave of his hand, he told Astrid to turn back. He hadn’t formed an alliance with Mala by starting a war, and he certainly didn’t plan on starting one now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, before you get all mad at me for the way Hiccup treated Astrid, let me explain. Everyone has a breaking point, and this was his. It just so happened that Astrid was the only person around to be involved. 
> 
> Now this is obviously not how Hiccup usually acts. I know that. But this is showing that he's reached a point of mental instability because of the stress he's under, and he just snapped. 
> 
> But he almost slapped her! Isn't that a little much? That's what you're most likely thinking. Well, it's really not. Ever noticed how some people get a little cranky and short right before a big test? Imagine that pressure multiplied by ten million. Your life is a stake. Your friends are being targeted. There's almost nothing you can do about it. And now all of a sudden your friends are refusing your help. Doesn't seem so crazy now, does it?
> 
> I hope you understand I am not out to make Hiccup look like a monster. I want to make him human.
> 
> For those of you who are dying to know what happens, the next book is almost finished! Keep a look out for Bluffing Beauty, and forget to leave Kudos and a comment!
> 
> ~Spinofflady

**Author's Note:**

> Who would have thought it, eh? Tove, turning into...whoever she turned into.
> 
> Who do you think she is, and what might her motives be? Tell me in the comments! 
> 
> Leave kudos if you enjoyed! Chapter 2 is coming soon!


End file.
